Pressure relief valve



y 1947. J. K. HAMILTON 2,420,370

PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE Filed Jan. 26, 1944 ATTORNEYS Patented May 13, I947 PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE James K. Hamilton, Plainfield, N. 3., assignor to Air Reduction Company, Incorporated, a corporation of New York Application January 26, 1944, Serial No. 519,784

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in pressure relief valves.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved relief valve for gas generators, gas containers, and similar sources of fluid under pressure, which is especially adapted for use where the normal operating pressure of the fluid is very close to the pressure at which it is desired that the valve open to full relief position.

Another object is to provide such a relief valve which will not hunt or chatter.

There are many cases where it is desirable to use a relief valve which will move to its full relief position when the fluid pressure tending to open it exceeds by only a small amount the normal operating pressure, i. e., the pressure at or near which it is desired to utilize the fluid to do some useful work or perform any desired operation. To operate satisfactorily, the valve must be tightly closed at the normal operating pressure and yet open wide upon a relatively slight increase in pressure. It is also desirable that the valve close tightly when the pressure drops to a'value' equal to or only slightly less than the normal operating pressure.

The simplest type of spring-loaded relief valve does not operate in such a manner that there is only a small difference between the pressure at which the valve just starts to leak (hereinafter called the leak pressure) and the pressure at which it is wide open (such pressure difference being hereinafter referred to as the operating differential) because the opening pressure acting on the valve must rise considerably before it can compress the loading spring sufficiently to allow the valve to open fully. To correct this it has been proposed to use a valve of greater area than is required in order that it need not travel so far to its fully open position, but this results in a more bulky relief valve and fails to solve the difficulty satisfactorily since a considerable pressure rise is still necessary to overcome the force of the loading spring if such force isgreat enough to insure a firm pressure of the valve against its seat in the closed position of the valve. 7

The usual way of decreasing the difference between the leak pressure and the pressure at which the valve is fully open is to make use of a so-called pop type of relief valve. In that type of valve the fluid that initially leaks past the valve when it is about to open is allowed to accumulate and its pressure is utilized to act on a portion of the valve to augment the main pressure tending to unseat the valve. However, as

soon as the valve begins to move to open position the area of the escape passage for such accumulated fluid begins to increase.

According to this invention the fluid that escapes past the valve when it begins to open is accumulated and utilized to assist in further opening the valve as above described, but the escape passage for this fluid is kept closed or its area limited as much as possible until such time as the valve is wide open. Thus the force of the main pressure tending to unseat the valve is considerably augmented by the pressure of the fluid that has already passed the valve but whose escape to the atmosphere is prevented or retarded until it considerably augments the main pressure and assists in moving the valve to its fully open position. The initial leakage of fluid past the valve, and the fluid which passes the valve in the early stages of its opening movement, are therefore utilized to assist in moving the valve to its wide open position with a small operating differential. This is accomplished with a limited movement of the valve such that the annular area opened by the valve is small compared to the area of the passage which the valve controls, this being desirable as is well understood in the art.

In order for the valve to reseat at a pressure reasonably close to the leak pressure, the area of the escape passage for the above-mentioned accumulated fluid must be large enough when the relief valve is wide open to prevent such an accumulation of pressure that such pressure will tend to prevent closure of the valve until the operating pressure has dropped off considerably lower than the pressure at which it is desirable for the valve to close. With commercial tolerances, it is very difficult to produce a production relief valve that will both sulficiently limit the area of the escape passage for the accumulated fluid until after the valve has opened a substantial amount thus giving a low operating differential, and at the same time cause such area to be sufliciently large when the valve is Wide open to make the valve reseat at a pressure that is close to the leak pressure. In a valve designed in accordance with the present invention both of these things are accomplished.

A valve embodying the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing the single figure of which represents the valve in vertical section.

The chamber 2 represents a container containing gas under pressure to which the relief "valve is connected. Alternatively, it may be regarded as an inlet chamber in the valve casing itself located at the upstream side of the valve and formed below a partition 4 in the casing I, an inlet 3 being provided to place the inlet chamber in communication with a gas generator or gas container or any other source of fluid whose pressure is to be relieved by the valve when it becomes excessive. The Partition 4 has a passage or port 5 at the upper edge of which there is a raised lip or valve seat 6. The valve body is composite and made up of an inner cylindrical portion 1 constituting an inner valve member adapted to'slide in an outer cylindrical portion 8 constituting an outer valve member. The outer portion 8 has a close sliding flt in the valve casing, its downward and upward movements being limited by shoulders 9 and Ill respectively on the valve casing. The lower end, of the inner portion I of the valve body is recessed to receive a valve element i l preferably made of semi-resilient material cemented or otherwise retained in the recess. The portion 1 of the valve body is loaded by means oi a coil spring I! which normally keeps the valve element Ii in tight enough contact with the lip 6 to prevent escape of fluid from the passage 5 when the pressure of the fluid in chamber 2 is not substantially higher than the operating pressure. The outer portion 8 of the valve body is biased downwardly by a second coil spring l3 which is lighter than the coil spring I2. The spring is reacts at its upper end against a sleeve i4 having threaded engagement with the valve casing i and the spring l2 reacts at its upper end against a plug l4 having a threaded engagement with the sleeve ll. Thus the sleeve and plug may be independently adjusted to vary the effect oi. the springs l2 and ii on the inner and outer portions I and 8 of the valve body respectively. If desired the sleeve I4 and plug l4 may be formed in one piece to constitute a single plug threaded into the valve casing whose adjustment will vary the eilect of both springs simultaneously.

The lower end of a. screw I5, threaded into the plug !4', acts as a stop to limit the upward movement of the inner portion I of the valve body. This screw is adjustable so that the travel of the portion 1 of the valve body may be limited to the most desirable amount such that the annular area opened by the valve in its fully opened position is'small compared to the cross-sectional area oi! the passage 5. The screw [5 may be held in adjusted position by means oi a lock nut IS.

A passage l1 extending through the side wall of the valve-casing leads to the atmosphere and its inner end is normally closed by the portion 8 of the valve body. Under these circumstances it is clear that up to the time that the passage I! is opened by upward movement of the valve portion 8 any fluid which escapes past the valve element ii and seat 6 is completely trapped and accumulated in a chamber l8 under the valve portion 8. I

The operation of the valve is as follows: When the pressure in the chamber 2 rises for any reason above the operating pressure and reaches the leak pressure, the pressure acting on the under surface of the valve element ll moves the inner member l of the valve body upwardly enough to produce a leak oi. the fluid past the lip 6 into the chamber l8. As the pressure .in chamber 2 continues to rise, the pressure in chamber l8 will begin to buildup as more and more fluid leaks past the lip 6 and accumulates in this chamber. As soon as the valve element l I has moved an appreciable distance away from the lip 6 the pressure in chamber I8 will increase rapidly, there still being no escape for the fluid in this chamber to the atmosphere through the passage I i. The pressure thus built up in the chamber [8 acts on that portion of the valve member 1 which extends outwardly beyond the lip 6 and assists the pressure in chamber 2 in moving the valve member 1 to its fully open position against the end of the screw l5. When the inner valve member 1 is fully or nearly open, the outer valve member 8 will be moved upwardly by the pressure in chamber I8 until it is arrested by the shoulder Ill. When the passage i1 is thereby opened the pressure in chamber I! will drop considerably but will still be high enough to overcome the force of the spring ll. As the pressure in chamber 2 drops, the inner valve member I will snap to its closed position. This cuts oil the supply of fluid to the chamber i8 and then the outer valve member 8 will snap down and close the passage II. By suitably relating all of the parts the pressure at which the valve element'is reseated will be very little less than the leak pressure.

A valve oi. the kind herein disclosed is nonchattering and does not hunt since the valve element, when it first starts to open, does not have a tendency to immediately close as is so often the case with relief valves, because the initial. leakage of the fluid past the valve element is utilized to assist in moving the valve to its fully open position. Maximum use is made of the fluid which escapes past the valve during movement of the valve to open position since it is not allowed to escape to the atmosphere until the valve is nearly open or fully open thus causing its accumulated pressure to cooperate very materially in opening the valve.

I claim:

1. A relief valve for relieving fluid pressure comprising 9, 08.8121. a port in a wall oi the casing, a valve seat surrounding the upper end of the port, a composite valve having an inner valve member cooperating with said seat and an outer relatively movable valve member, the lower sur-' race of the outer valve member and the upper surface of said casing wall forming upper and lower walls of a pressure chamber above said casing wall at the downstream side of the valve seat, said inner valve member having a portion adapted to be acted upon by the pressure in said pressure chamber in a direction to produce a force that assists in moving the inner valve member to open position but being free of any pressure area upon which the pressure in said chamber can act in the opposite direction to negative such force, a coil spring urging the inner valve member downwardly to normally seat the same, a coil spring urging the outer valve member: downwardly, and an exhaust passage leading from said pressure chamber controlled by the vertical movement of the outer valve member, the outer valve member being so constructed and arranged as to be unaffected by the motion of the inner valve member to open position but being movable by the pressure on its lower surface of the fluid which passes the inner valve member and being adapted to maintain said exhaust passage at least partially closed during the opening movement of the inner valve member and to fully open it after the inner valve member has moved to fully open position.

. 2. A relief valve for relieving fluid pressure comprising a casing, a port in a wall of the casing, a valve seat surrounding the upper end of the port, a composite valve having an inner valve member cooperating with said seat and an outer relatively movable valve member, the lower surface of the outer valve member and the upper surface of said casing wall forming upper and lower walls of a pressure chamber above said casing wall at the downstream side oi the valve seat, said inner valve member having a portion adapted to be acted upon by the pressure in said pressure chamber in a direction which assists in moving the inner valve member to open position, a coil spring urging the inner valve member downwardly to normally seat the same, an adjustable coil spring urging the outer valve member downwardly, a stop to limit the upward movement of the inner valve member, a stop to limit the downward movement of the outer valve member, an exhaust passage leading from said pressure chamber and normally closed by the outer valve member when it is in its lowermost position, and a stop to limit the upward movement of the outer valve member after it has fully opened said exhaust passage, the outer valve member being so constructed and arranged as to be unaffected by the motion of the inner valve member to its stop but being movable by the pressure on its lower surface of the fluid which passes the inner valve member and said spring which acts on the outer valve member being adjusted to cause the outer valve member to maintain said exhaust passage at least partially closed during the openin: movement oi the inner valve member and to iully open it after the inner valve member has moved to fully open position against its stop.

3. A relief valve for a gas container or the like comprising a casing enclosing a chamber having 35 Number acting on said primary valve element and urging it toward said end wall and normally holding it in position to close said valve port against the escape of gas, means independent or the means acting on the primary valve for urging the secondary valve piston element toward said end wall to a position to prevent exhaust of gas from said chamber through said exhaust port, whereby exhaust of gas from said chamber through said exhaust port can take place only after the secondary valve piston has moved away from the and wall a predetermined distance.

JAMES K. HAMILTON.

REFERENCES crrEn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,152,733 Houser Sept. '1, 1915 2,162,898 Rotter June 20, 1939 726,355 Schaefer Apr. 28, 1903 537,038 Heintzelman Apr. 9, 1895 2,239,169 I Franck Apr. 22, 1941 FOREIGN PA'I'ENTS Country Date 8,808 Great Britain June 18. 1887 176,037 Great Britain Feb. 9, 1922 

